Post by cjm on Jul 27, 2015 21:12:30 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Victims of apartheid in South Africa cannot sue IBM Corp. and Ford Motor Co. in New York because they cannot show that the companies' alleged offending behavior occurred in the United States, a federal appeals court said Monday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against lawsuits brought 13 years ago against the Armonk, New York-based IBM and Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford.

In its ruling, a three-judge panel cited a 2013 Supreme Court ruling severely limiting the legal reach of the 1789 Alien Tort Statute. The law was created in part to deal with piracy claims but in recent decades human rights lawyers have used it to pursue damages from individuals or companies alleged to have supported abuses around the world.

The fact that I am considered an adult is both terrifying and hillarious